Editor:
I write to state that the recent issue of The Social Contract (Vol. XII, No. 1, Fall 2001) was truly inspired. It is a wonderful and important blend of statements as to why Garrett Hardin's views should be known and listened to, along with important excerpts from his works. Then there are the additional comments relative to the very dramatic events of this fall. Altogether this is a premier issue of The Social Contract. I was particularly taken by Lindsey Grant's item. I have known Lindsey over the years by correspondence - his background from work in the State Department gives him an important perspective on world affairs.
Walter Youngquist
Eugene, Oregon
Editor:
I read David Simcox's excellent article about filling the gaps in our immigration laws. Among other things, Simcox explains how we should tighten up our student, tourist, and work visas. We do have big problems with that. The U.S. does not need any more people of any kind. If we would train and educate our own and produce our own harvest, we could end almost all immigration. See studies by Professor Norman Matloff of California State and the U.S. Department of Labor. This is especially urgent in a time of record unemployment.
Warren L. Brown
Portland, Maine
Editor:
I have lived all over the world and I am a native-born American. It is about time somebody spoke up about our importing millions of people who have backward ideas about women and society in general and who are basically anti-American under the skin. I have long asked myself where NOW was on this issue. NOW struggles for women's rights, and at the same time Washington imports millions of people who are basically against NOW's aims. I believe that the government wants to keep up this supply of forced labor that works cheap out of fear of being discovered as illegal and also supplies a liberal voting base.
Harold Schuller
Hallendale, Florida
Looking at Letters to Other Editors...
Under the headline, "Meatpacking We Are Marching Backward," a police officer in Anaheim, California, and a member of the Anaheim Unified School District Board of Trustees, placed this letter to the editors of the Dallas Morning News
In 1906 Upton Sinclair wrote about the horrors of the meatpacking industry in his novel, The Jungle. Well, the jungle has returned. The meatpacking industry has replaced hard-working Americans in a relatively safe job with, in many cases, illegal aliens in an unsafe job. They took middle-class work and turned it into a low-paying job. They made a profit... but I sure as heck didn't see a drop in prices.
I believe that every business should be able to make a reasonable profit, but when they get so greedy as to march backward in time I think they need greater scrutiny. I will no longer buy any Tyson product, no matter what it is, ever. It's time for another Upton Sinclair to scrutinize the entire meat industry again.
Harald G. Martin
Anaheim, California